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Günther Josten joined the Luftwaffe in January of 1940, and after completion of flight training was transferred to Jagdgruppe Drontheim on 1 November 1941. While serving there, Josten was tasked with defending German ships anchored in the Norwegian fjords from RAF attacks, and providing escort for bombers attacking Allied convoys in the North Sea. At the end of August 1942 he was sent to Jesau and posted to I./JG 51's 3. Staffel, with the Gruppe only having arrived there shortly before his arrival. Here they replaced their rather worn-out and by this time obsolete Bf 109 F-1 and F-2 aircraft for the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190. No less than 43 Fw 190 A-1, A-2 and A-3 types were accepted by the unit. During early September, flight training on the new type was undertaken at Jesau before the order to relocate the Gruppe to the Eastern Front. On 10 September the unit was moved to the east, flying over Riga and Rjelbitzi and arriving the same day at Ljuban, I./JG 51's new base of operations. A total of 36 machines had arrived by the evening. The I. Gruppe was subordinated to the Stab/JG 54, and tasked with protecting the airspace above the northern sector of the Eastern Front. They flew their first missions on 21 September over Luga, until eight days later when the unit flew along the Newa River and conducted fighter sweeps in the Leningrad and Dubovka areas. Here I./JG 51 would claim their first victory flying the Fw 190, when their Gruppenkommandeur, Hptm. Krafft, shot down an I-16 for his 62nd Abschuss. Uffz. Günther Josten however, would not claim his first victory until this day, 23 February 1943, by downing an Il-2 northeast of Zhizdra during the early morning hours. Then followed another Il-2 a month later on 22 March. His first fighter, a La-5 would fell before his guns on 28 May east of Oryol. It was not until the summer months of 1943 that he would start to score with increasing frequency with four of them during June. It was not until the Germans launched their offensive Unternehmen Zitadelle on 5 July that Jostens scoring really took off. His first during the offensive was clammed on the 10th, a MiG-3 followed by an Il-2 and Pe 2 in a later midday mission over the frontline. Another Abschuss followed the next day, an Il-2. The 13th was a stellar day when he filed claims for another six VVS aircraft, five of which were later confirmed. During the rest of the month he claimed an additional 10 Abschüsse and thus reached a total of 25 confirmed victories. Promoted to Feldwebel Josten would amass another 30 victories in August. In September, Josten would repeat his successes by downing another 26 VVS aircraft. Among these, he was able to score several multiple victories, seven kills on the 7th and another eight on the 15th, his 71st to 78th Abschüsse. After reaching 82 victories, Josten was posted to Furstenfeldbrück, where he served as an instructor until he returned to the Eastern Front on 5 February 1944. Oblt. Günther Josten would file his final confirmed victory, a Yak-3 on 26 April 1945 for his 178th Abschuss. The reader would be hard-pressed to determine let alone actually see "White 6's" original camouflage colours. That the aircraft was received new by I./JG 51 in August 1942 would indicate that in all probability it was painted in RLM 74/75/75 grays. Certainly it was modified at the unit level with the addition of the temporary white-based distemper for winter operations. Later a rather poorly executed pattern of medium and dark green was applied to the fuselage that even partially obscured the I. Gruppe crest. Given the dirty and rundown appearance on this old Focke-Wulf, it was likely a cast-off machine that a newly-minted pilot like Josten would have had no choice but to accept and make the best of it. Please note that
during the last week I have not been able to make any new profiles
as I´m had a vacation. |
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